we had a lot of european allies deny it in the middle east crisis and france denied it in the libya operation. if iraq wanted to deny iran airspace it would not be a huge deal by the standards of the international community or how these kind of things work. as you know, iraq is won by a shia majority government. they are worried about being -- seeing president assad fall to insurgents in syria. they see this as a matter of national survival. that's probably why they willing to tolerate this overflight. >>shepard: is it fair to say that this began as sort of a people's uprising and switched to a bit a civil war, and, now, could be considered a religious conflict? >>guest: well, on the last point, sectarian religious part is based on the knick -- ethnic differences, the shia here, they have certain ethnic differences from other syrian groups. yes, i am just sort of adding nuance, there is a strong divide here, the shia in syria are the minority, the opposite of iraq, and they are in power assad sad was the minority sunni in iraq until he was overthrown back in 2003 so it is the reverse image of